Slinkies
by TheSilentPrincess
Summary: Some people are like slinkies, not really good for anything except making you laugh when you push them down the stairs. Sometimes, these people seem to be your soul mate.


**A/N: Hey guys! This is just a little Swanfire one shot I wrote. Hope you like it!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything. **

Some people are like slinkies, not really good for anything except making you laugh when you push them down the stairs. Sometimes, these people seem to be your soul mate. Thats what Emma Swan felt of Neal Cassidy. Not that she would ever push him down the stairs, because they were both grown adults now, and what would Henry think? but she had to admit that if he ever tripped and fell down the stairs himself, she would laugh. Whether she would laugh before or after she rushed to help him up was unforeseen, but she would most definitely laugh. As for the soul mate thing, well, what could she say? She was in love with him at eighteen, a highly impressionable age to fall in love for the first time. After he had broke her heart and left and she had Henry and got out of jail, the years passed and she thought that she was over it, that the left over feelings were just because he was her first love and as they always say, you never forget your fist love. By the time she found him in New York though, it was a completly different story, even before she heard the real reason with August and everything, she knew that it wasn't just leftovers. Even still, she could never do anything about it, since Tamara was in the picture and even more importantly, she would not allow herself too. It was like neal had a big flashing sign over his head "warning, anyone who cares about me will get hurt" She had let the whole Henry thing happen against her better judgement, just because she didn't really have a choice. Besides the point, she knew she and regina would be there to pick up the pieces when Neal left, probably in the form of getting married and starting a new family, forgetting his old one.  
>Not that they were ever a family to begin with, but still, the meaning was clear. This is when he became the slinky, a little bit after they got back to storybrooke and the whole Rumpelstiltskin thing was solved. He was always there, at Grannys ordering coffee, around the street corner when she was on her way to pick up Henry from school, knocking on the loft door after his day with Henry. It was insane how annoying it got, and how flustered it made her. She had started making excuses, the amount of times she spoke the words "Hey Mom, I have to run to the station really quick, but Neal said he'll drop henry off at seven, are you gonna be around?" was ridiculous. She shouldn't be having to run from him, but she also knew that it wasn't necessarily him she was running from, but her feelings. It took her more then a few times for her to realize it though, and when she finally did, she scowled and took it out on a file she was going through. She should not still love him! He was a slinky, and thats what he always would be. Unfortunately that slinky was the father of her child and was the one she was head over heels in love with before, but those are just two small details she couldn't change, no matter how much she wished she could. Besides, she was good at pushing feelings away, thats what she always did. Thats what she always done, but she was forgetting one of the only exceptions the the rule, him. Everyday it would get harder and harder to ignore him, to swallow her pride at night when he brought Henry home, or to keep a bright smile on when he kept her up for hours that night talking about all the fun he had with his dad. One morning, she had even caught herself thinking about the unthinkable.<p>

She stopped at Granny's one morning for coffee because they ran out at the loft and as she was waiting on ruby at the counter, he was coming down from upstairs. She saw him and made eye contact just as Ruby came with the cup. As emma dug in her pocket for change, she cussed, finding it empty. She started to explain to Ruby as Neal noticed the dilemma and paid for her coffee, she thanked him and quickly fled the shop before anything else could happen, but by the time she got to work, her head was filled with thoughts concerning what it would be like if they were together. Calling herself a lovesick teenager, she buried herself in her work and managed to convince herself of the slinky feeling again, but this time, it seemed duller, like she muted the feeling to many times.

At that moment it became obvious, some people are like slinkies, not really good for anything except making you laugh when you push them down the stairs, but sometimes they are most definitely are your soul mate.


End file.
